Parenthetical Girls

The last time I got this kind of feeling from listening to a band for the first time, that band was Bright Eyes. And you can abuse Bright Eyes for being too ’emo’ and self-involved at times, but they’re spectacular when they want to be. first day of my life is the pop song that made me want to be in love. Well, love should be enough of an incentive, but you gets me. Which brings me on to Parenthetical Girlswho make music so stark and simple that it’s the most beautiful thing you’ll ever hear. Their history is a bit too much for even the most hardened of wikipedians to digest, but they used to be called The Swastika Girls (not cuz they’re racist or owt, no worries) and now they’re touring with Los Campesinos! which is always a good sign. But seriously, you should envy anyone who gets to see that double header.

The song featured isn’t their best (The weight she fell under is that, which you can stream from here) But it’s still pretty epic. They’ve not got a proper myspace (though they’ve still got one, with a meagre 28 friends) and their youtube videos are all ones done by fans. Superb.

And yeah, Parenthetical Girls are so cool they’ve even got a selection of songs available to download at their own website. just hover over the albums on the left hand side and the ones with the hyperlinks are the ones you can download for free. these are one band you can’t aff